PLOT: I wasn’t overly impressed by the premise and found the characters irritating – especially Yuri who did not stop yapping for the entire flipping series! But I really liked the atmosphere of this show. It immediately put me in mind of Boogiepop Phantom and the better parts of Narutaru, as Alien 9 can be extremely dark and disturbing at times. At other times I was bored out of my mind (the duration of episode 3 had this effect on me). Its a mixed bag which isn’t really a good thing considering this was only 4 episodes – it felt a lot longer due to the tedious pacing. Again I was strongly reminded of Narutaru, which was unfortunately not a good thing. The last episode was strange, disturbing and it felt like nothing was resolved – which further added to my annoyance with this OVA.
ANIMATION: The animation is good as expected from JC Staff – not a fan of the character designs, but I liked the contrast between the cute little girls and the creepy ugly alien designs. The action sequences are smooth and well choreographed, with innovative use of the borg’s abilities.
MUSIC & VOICE ACTING: The OP & ED are not the best – I skipped over them after the 1st listen, but the background music is excellent at creating a good, tense atmosphere. Voice acting was unremarkable throughout.
Overall I wasn’t overly impressed by Alien 9 – granted it was nothing like I was expecting. I was fully bracing myself for a manic, comedic action series when I read the summary – it delivered something unexpected and dark. I would have scored it higher if the pacing was better, there was actual plot resolution and if the characters more likeable.
